1. Field of the Disclosed Embodiments
This disclosure relates to systems and methods for implementing substantially real-time remote multi-mission tracking and re-tasking for a plurality of locally-operated unmanned vehicles from a central location to provide mission deconfliction and mission modification in an operating environment, including an evolving and moving local operating environment, to more effectively employ the plurality of locally-operated unmanned vehicles.
2. Related Art
Deployment scenarios involving unmanned vehicles are increasing as the technology for local and remote control of those vehicles increases and government, law enforcement and other entities become aware of, and comfortable with, the capabilities and benefits of routinely employing certain unmanned vehicles for certain mission types. The term “unmanned vehicles,” as that term will be used throughout this disclosure, is intended to encompass a particular class of locally, generally line-of-sight operated vehicles. Classes of those vehicles include: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and the related Small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUASs); Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs); Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USVs); and Unmanned Undersea Vehicles (UUVs).
Based on an anticipated exponential growth in the employment scenarios of particularly sUAS platforms, based on their flexibility of employment and expanding capabilities, the discussion below will center around sUAS platform deployment and operations. This focus on such operations as a specific example to illustrate the benefits of the systems and methods according to this disclosure should not be construed as excluding equally applicable application to other classes of unmanned vehicles. The sUAS platforms referred to in this disclosure represent a subset of all UAVs, which are differentiated from certain other UAVs because the sUAS platforms are capable of controlled flight from launch, through in-flight operations, to recovery and/or landing in a manner similar to a conventional piloted airplane or helicopter. The control schemes for these sUAS platforms may include real-time or near-real-time control of the flight profile by an operator at a communication and control console in constant communication with a particular sUAS. The described sUAS platforms, as well as other unmanned vehicles referred to in this disclosure tend to be of limited sophistication, thereby requiring local control by an operator having line-of-sight contact with a particular sUAS platform, or other unmanned vehicle.
A focus of development efforts for a broad array of unmanned vehicles is centered on exploring operation of small, economical vehicle platforms that may be specifically fielded to a particular task to which the unmanned vehicles may be particularly adapted. A number of competing entities have evolved their operations to providing differing levels of sophistication in unmanned vehicles to support specific and evolving requirements of a broadly expanding potential customer base, including government agencies and law enforcement entities. Currently, sUAS platform capabilities are being reviewed for deployment in increasing roles in many public service and public support missions, which include, but are not limited to, border surveillance, wildlife surveys, military training, weather monitoring, fire detection and monitoring, and myriad local law enforcement surveillance support missions.
Local employment of a particular unmanned vehicle tends to be autonomous. The local operator of the unmanned vehicle, for example, may be generally unconcerned with other operations going on in the area or at other locations employing other unmanned vehicles based on close control of the locally-operated unmanned vehicles. In instances, when employing an sUAS platform, a local “pilot” of the sUAS platform may be provided certain rudimentary traffic deconfliction information, but generally is unconcerned with other operations in a vicinity, and certainly does not coordinate, in a current deployment scheme, operations with the operations of other sUAS platform operators in the area. In this regard, the immediate operation of a particular unmanned vehicle, including a particular sUAS platform, may be considered local, tactical employment of the particular unmanned vehicle. This scenario is operationally played out when one considers that the pilot of the sUAS platform is in a fixed location within line of sight to the sUAS platform operating a joystick based on observed operations of the sUAS platform, potentially augmented by an actual video feed from the sUAS platform being displayed on the operator's console to locally control mission employment of the sUAS platform.
Challenges to increasingly expanded employment of certain unmanned vehicles include (1) lack of effective oversight for deconfliction and mission reprioritization as between multiple locally-operated unmanned vehicles and (2) effective employment in operating scenarios in which a locus of the surveillance or other operations undertaken by the unmanned vehicles is not fixed, i.e., is moving in an unplanned manner across some open area terrain. An example of such a non-fixed operational scenario may involve wildfires surveillance in which a rapidly moving fire front may change direction based on the prevailing winds and/or availability of fuel to sustain the wildfire. Current employment scenarios for individual unmanned vehicles monitoring the progress of the wildfire may have difficulty responding to such movement. In scenarios in which a particular focus for surveillance (target) may be rapidly moving, those rapid movements of the target may outpace the capabilities of even a fairly sophisticated unmanned vehicle, including an sUAS platform. Such scenarios may specify a need to undertake event or occurrence monitoring with a plurality of unmanned vehicles. Such operations may optimally require overlapping coverage of the plurality of unmanned vehicles in order to keep a particular target of surveillance covered while others of the plurality of unmanned vehicles (along with their operators) may be repositioned or pre-positioned in an expected direction of movement of the target of the surveillance.